The raptor snarled and screeched, snapping its narrow jaw inches from Erik's eyes. It weaved left and right, trying to get around him to attack from the side. The long scratch running from his shoulder to halfway down his tail was proof that it had managed it once already. Its hide was the color of mud, with violently green feathers cresting its head. It backed off a step as it watched him with slit-pupil eyes, chirping like a bird. Erik couldn’t be sure, but he was fairly certain there was a mocking quality to that chitter. He wasn't agile enough to hold the raptor off forever, and he did not yet have those natural advantages that would have made him a hard target. No massive bulk, no terrifying sharp horns. If it wasn’t for the bony crest and his sharp, parrot-like beak, he would have been dead already. He snapped his lower jaw at the raptor and reared up on his hind legs, lunging forward into a mock charge. It squawked in alarm at his display and backed off.
“What the hell are these things?” Marcus demanded, his rex rumbling its displeasure at a pitch too high to be intimidating. Erik and Marcus were holding them off, standing back to back. It took two of the raptors to keep Marcus busy, which was lucky because if they had been able to gang up on Erik, he would have had a lot more problems than just a scratch on his side.
“Velociraptors,” Erik said as he took a step back, the feathered raptor keeping its distance. “I think.”
“They don’t really look like Sarah,” Marcus said doubtfully, as he snapped his jaws at one raptor, driving it back. At the same time, the second one rushed at him from the side, taking advantage of the distraction. It probably would have worked against an actual rex fresh out of the shell, but Marcus committed to his lunging movement and pivoted fast, catching the encroaching raptor across the side of the head with his heavy tail and sending it tumbling away.
“Sarah’s a Utah raptor,” Erik said.
“You know, Rik, I always knew you were a nerd, but I never knew you were a dinosaur nerd.”
“I can’t catch them,” Sarah reported. “They’re too quick.” When they encountered the raptor pack, there had been seven. In the initial clash, Marcus had killed one, and now they were trying to finish or chase off the remaining six. Sarah was as long as Marcus’s rex now, but considerably faster and more dangerous as a juvenile. She was more than a match for any of these raptors in a straight fight. Add in the fact that she was one of the best players in the world in VR PvP, and you would have thought she could wrap this up in a minute. Yet several minutes later, she was getting juked and turned around. Not that Erik was complaining. She was keeping a full half of the pack off them by herself. Each of the Velociraptors was barely two-thirds her size, and Erik figured if she had been full grown, or even just one growth stage further along, they wouldn’t have come within a mile of her.
“Ah!” Marcus called out in pain and surprise; mostly surprise. He had lunged forward to finish off the raptor he had stunned with his tail, and the other raptor seized its moment, sprinting forward as a mud-colored streak and latching its long narrow jaws around one of his stubby little arms. It dangled, toes dragging along the ground as Marcus thrashed back and forth. It let go just in time to dodge his bite, but it had accomplished its goal. The other raptor was back on its feet, retreating away from an angry Marcus.
“Sarah,” Erik said as the raptor facing him got brave again and began approaching, moving at an angle to him in an attempt to circle around. “I need you to cut this way.”
“Little busy,” she said. Erik could see her, trailing after one of the smaller Velociraptors, its little legs a blur as it sprinted away from her.
“I know, but we need to change things up or they’re going to tire us out.”
“Alright,” Sarah spun on the spot and accelerated toward him. The raptor that was trying to get at Erik’s side was focused and didn’t notice her approach immediately. The three raptors Sarah had been occupying dashed after her, forming a staggered line behind her.
“Marcus, move to guard Sarah’s flank when I call it out,” Erik said, still turning, keeping his crest tipped forward in a defensive posture. The light, rapid thud-thud-thud of Sarah’s footsteps was too loud to be missed now, and the raptor screeched in alarm and tried to dodge away. Too late. She crashed into the smaller predator, clawing and biting. “Now!” Erik yelled, and Marcus whipped around and dashed right into the middle of the group that had been on Sarah’s heels, scattering them like bowling pins. He raised his head with a raptor dangling by the neck from his jaws. He shook it like a dog and it died instantly. At the same time, Sarah finished off the raptor she had surprised. Without hesitation, she dashed in a straight line for another. One of the ones focused on Marcus. It never made a sound before she pounced on it, tearing at it. Another dead.
Four down, three to go. A fact that was not lost on the raptor pack. As Sarah came up, searching for another target, they were already retreating, vanishing between the trees and into the undergrowth.
“Annoying little shits,” Marcus grumbled as he moved to stand over the raptor he had killed. “Alright, here goes nothing,” he said with the tone of someone pinching their nose right before they swallow some foul medicine. The rex bent down and tore a chunk off the rubbery raptor ragdoll, then came up, tipped his head back, and swallowed the chunk whole. “Hey, that’s not bad. Tastes kinda like a hamburger from a fast food place.”
He and Sarah topped off their food meters long before they ran out of raptors, but there was no way for them to keep the rest or preserve it. They couldn’t even bury it like a wild animal might have. The canopy above them was growing steadily darker as the dark wall of snow and ash encroached, growing closer minute by minute.
“We need to go, it’s not far from here,” Erik said, and the three of them made their way toward the crater. On his HUD, Erik’s health display. The baby triceratops broken into body segments was mostly a light, lime green, except for on the side, where it had turned to a darker hunter green, with shades of orange creeping in around the edges. He found himself wondering how long healing took. It couldn’t be too slow, right? The question was quickly answered. As he watched, the orange was receding, the dark green growing lighter by shades.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
*You have entered the area of an active meteorite. Evolution Energy will be absorbed until the meteorite is depleted.
Objective: Small Meteorite
Energy: 300/300
Fragments: 30/30
Contested: No
The objective window popped up into the top left corner of Erik’s vision, as text scrolled across the bottom.
You have gained +1 Evolution Energy
And the window updated.
Objective: Small Meteorite
Energy: 297/300
Fragments: 30/30
Contested: No
“So I know I should’ve read the info packet they emailed me and all, but what the hell is Evolution Energy?” Marcus asked.
“Don’t know yet,” Erik said, tipping his crested head to the side. The best he could do for a triceratops equivalent of a shrug.
You have gained +1 Evolution Energy
“Look,” Sarah said, pointing with her nose. They followed her line of sight and on the ground nestled in amongst fallen leaves and dry soil was a glimmer. As they approached Erik saw that it was a metallic shard, as he focused on it, a window popped up.
Identify:
Item: Meteorite Fragment
Type: Currency
Information: A fragment of meteorite that crashed into the planet. This can be exchanged with vendors in the HUB for goods and services.
“I didn’t see any vendors in the Hub,” Sarah pointed out, apparently reading the same prompt. Erik leaned forward and touched it with his nose, trying to tip it over so he could get a better look at it. Instead, as he made contact the shard of metal twinkled blue, like an electric current had passed through it. Then it faded away, breaking down into dust.
Your team has gained: +1 Meteorite Fragment.
You have gained +1 Evolution Energy.
Objective: Small Meteorite
Energy: 290/300
Fragments: 29/30
Contested: No
“We didn’t leave the area with the headquarters,” Erik said, in answer to Sarah. “There were paths that lead out of that area though. There’s probably a lot more to see.”
“So should we scrounge around looking for those shiny rocks?”
“I guess,” Erik said hesitantly. He had no idea what kind of things they could buy in the Hub and how that might affect the game. Between mutations, abilities and the yet to be witnessed evolution system, E.L.E felt like it had enough dimensions.
They split up to look around, but stayed within line of sight of each other as best they could. Erik was guessing that no players would come here now. The big cloud wall of death had turned this part of the Jungle to a murky dusk, and was perfectly visible even through the canopy. He estimated they had an hour, maybe two, before it would arrive here. They only found 6 more fragments in the area before they got the notification.
You have gained +1 Evolution Energy
Objective: Small Meteorite (Completed)
Energy: 0/300
Fragments: 23/30
Contested: No
Evolution Energy in this area has been depleted. Objective Complete.
And the window vanished off their hud. “Is that it,” Marcus asked. Erik, who had been just about to poke another fragment saw it pop out of existence as the objective was marked finished.
“Guess so,” He said. “The one I just found was gone before I could touch it.”
“Yeah, me too,” Sarah said, sounding disgruntled.
“Well then I hope those aren’t important,” Marcus said.
“Doesn’t matter right now.” Erik said, turning to tip his head up toward the sky. “We need to get going. Straight away from the wall.” They set off once more, passing the actual site of the meteor impact, where all the tree’s had been toppled over. There was nothing sitting in it, presumably because it had vanished when the objective had been finished. Under other circumstances he might’ve been interested, but he was beginning to suspect the wall was closer than it ought to be.
A few minutes of sprinting later, as he galloped on his 4 stubby legs, with Sarah and Marcus on either side of him, he was certain of it. He saw Marcus glance back over his shoulder, his rex head tilted to the side so he could look upward.
“I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I think that the death wall is chasing us.”